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A Voice for Brady: Pregnancy Center offers hope, encouragement -- one step at a time

By CARIE CANTERBURY canterburyc@ cañoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
05/19/2013 09:10:40 PM MDT

Dozens of pink and blue balloons are released Saturday during the Cañon City Pregnancy Center s annual Walk for Hope. Carie Canterbury/Daily Record
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H eather Surovik's infant son, Brady, never breathed air into his tiny lungs, but he did have a healthy beating heart and he was very active in his mother's womb during her eight months of pregnancy.

Sadly, Surovik lost her eight-pound, two-ounce son when a drunk driver slammed into her car July 5, 2012, in Longmont, harming both Surovik and her mother and killing baby Brady.

"Because Colorado law doesn't recognize Brady as a person, there was no prosecution for his tragic death," said Karen VanRiper, volunteer coordinator for the Cañon City Pregnancy Center on Saturday during the annual Walk for Life.

Surovik is on a mission to honor her son by initiating the Brady petition to recognize in law that Brady was a person deserving of protection. The Cañon City Pregnancy Center is helping with that effort by inviting registered voters to stop by their office to sign the petition by the end of August.

"This is to recognize that a baby in utero is a person deserving protection," VanRiper said. "Because Brady wasn't born yet, the State of Colorado didn't recognize him as a person, so the guy just went free - and he was a drunk driver."

Activists need 86,000 valid signatures to get the Brady Amendment on the next election ballot. According to avoiceforbrady.com, in the interest of the protection of pregnant mothers and their unborn children from criminal offenses and negligent and wrongful acts, the words "person" and "child" in the Colorado Criminal Code and the Colorado Wrongful Death Act must include unborn human beings.

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"Had Brady been born in the hospital the day before that accident, he probably wouldn't have even needed medical support - or had they been on their way home from the hospital," said Executive Director Kristy Slaughenhaupt. "To me, it's so clear and we've just made it so gray and fuzzy."

During the walk, Slaughenhaupt also shared with attendees, board members, staff, volunteers and community members the importance of not simply proclaiming pro-life - but to live it.

"It hasn't been enough for over 40 years," she said. "We have to start living pro-life."

She said showing the community what they believe in and what they are standing up for needs to be paramount.

"We are at war and lives are at stake," she said. "In fact, millions of them are."

Slaughenhaupt said since 1973, there have been more than 50 million abortions in the United States.

"It doesn't take but just a split second of turning on the TV and seeing some of the recent stories from Dr. George Tiller to Dr. Kermit Gosnell and the horrific atrocities that are happening in our country to know that we are at war," she said.

Saturday's Walk for Life was the center's chance to get their message out about the sanctity of life. About 80 walkers made the two-mile trek around the downtown area, followed by a cookout, live music, games for children and a tour of the center and its clothing garage.

"I believe in what we do here at the center," said Cecilia Hoffman, a board member since 1994. "I wish there had been a pregnancy center years ago when I needed one."

Saturday marked Hoffman's 21st year to participate in the walk. All proceeds from the event help to offer diapers, formula, clothing, baby and toddler furniture and equipment to local families, as well as community education and support for pregnant women.

"The need is great," Slaughenhaupt said. "We just have to keep fighting one person at a time, just pouring into their life and speaking promise over them, speaking encouragement over them, and telling them what the world says they are isn't true. They do have such value."

For more information, or to sign the Brady Amendment petition, visit the Cañon City Pregnancy Center at 508 Greenwood Ave. from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday or call 275-7074.

Items Needed

Gently used clothing, sizes newborn to 8

Bassinets, cribs, walkers, strollers, swings, etc.

Infant diapers and formula

New car seats

All items donated are given away free of charge to local parents and families in need.